Longmont Chamber's annual dinner brings awards, recognitions

By Tony KindelspireLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
11/01/2013 09:37:13 PM MDT

Updated:
11/01/2013 09:38:21 PM MDT

Eric Hozempa with the Longmont Community Foundation, left, presents a $500 check to Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley, which was named the 2013 Nonprofit of the Year at the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner Friday night. Incoming chairwoman Eve Bruce is pictured at far right.
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LONGMONT -- Several businesses and organizations took home some hardware from the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce's 126th annual meeting Friday night.

Nominations in various categories are submitted by chamber members and then any member that wants to can vote on them.

"A record was set this year for the most votes ever for our nominees," said 2014 chairwoman Eve Bruce of Express It! Mail Center.

The Rookie Business of the Year award was given to High Plains Bank. Vice president and location manager Chris McVay noted that although the bank is relatively new to Longmont, having opened in March, High Plains has been operating in Colorado for more than 100 years. The bank is employee-owned and has become involved with several local events and nonprofits since it opened its doors here.

Chris McVay, vice president and location manager, is joined by fellow associates from High Plains Bank, which was named Rookie Business of the year.
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Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley won as Nonprofit of the Year. The organization is celebrating 25 years locally this year, and of the 59 homes it has built in the Longmont area -- with an assessed value of nearly $9 million --55 of them are still occupied by their original owners.

Essex Motors was named Small Business of the Year. In his remarks, Ray Brugio, who manages the dealership for his father, Mike, who owns it, noted the family-owned aspect of the business and said they try to support the Longmont community in any way they can.

Large Business of the Year was Oskar Blues -- quite a feat, considering it beat out two multinational corporations in IBM and Xilinx.

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Spokesman Chad Melis said that Oskar Blues received a lot of support from the Longmont community even before it moved its primary brewing operations here in 2008. Now that it's here, the company enjoys giving back any way it can and being "a key and integral part of the social fabric of this community."

To support the chamber's Education Committee and the St. Vrain Valley School District, Kaiser Permanente presented the committee with a $1,000 check to help high school students in the district learn leadership skills.

One of the founders of that committee and its chairman, Don Oest of IBM, received the chamber's Making A Difference award, for which he received a standing ovation from the 300 attendees at the Plaza Convention Center.

The chamber's Ambassador of the Year was Randy Schow of Mountain States Children's Home.

In his outgoing remarks as chairman, Fleming, owner of Instant Imprints, called the past year "one of the most wonderful times that I've had."

Part of the annual meeting is the introduction of the new officers and board. Along with Bruce as chairwoman and Fleming as immediate past chairman, other officers for 2014 are chair-elect Carol Schack of Prudential Rocky Mountain Realtors; secretary Eric Kittelberger of Adams Bank and Trust; treasurer Ben Weir of Ben Weir Consulting; and officers at large Sue Ellen Grimaud of Prudential Real Estate of the Rockies and Kyle Snyder of Land Title Guarantee Co. The rest of the 2014 board members are: Michelle Brietzke of La Momo Maes Bakery; Craig Chaney of Brock & Co. CPA PC; Patty Chonis with A-Tek Systems Group; Linda Curran with Front Range Community College; Josh Goldberg with Left Hand Brewing Co.

Eve Bruce, right, the 2014 chairwoman of the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce, helps representatives from Essex Motors celebrate its 2013 Small Business of the Year award.
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; Doug Kirby with Acquire Internet Marketing; Ed Locher with DigitalGlobe; Monty Meduna with First National Bank; IBM's Oest; Rick Samson of the Samson Law Firm PC; and Liz Smokowski with the Longmont Humane Society.

Eve Bruce, left, the 2014 chairwoman of the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce, joins the crew of nine that showed up from Oskar Blues to accept the chamber's Large Business of the Year award at the chamber's 126th annual meeting Friday night.
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